Tamil Nadu govt hikes medicos’ stipend

CHENNAI: A day after doubling the salaries of nurses on contract, the Tamil Nadu government on Thursday increased the stipend offered to medicos in undergraduate, postgraduate and super speciality courses.
In June, medical students’ associations in the state threatened to boycott work if the government did not increase their stipend. The students said they had made several representations to the government stating that they were the lowest paid in the country.

“We found the demand genuine and forwarded the demands to the state government,” said director of medical education Dr A Edwin Joe.

The orders passed by chief minister Edappadi K Palaniswami said the hike in stipend would be effective from April 2018.

Based on representations from the Directorate of Medical Education, the state government increased the stipend offered towards one year internship for undergraduates by 53% -- from Rs 13,000 to Rs 20,000.

Postgraduate students, who were getting stipends between Rs 27,100 and Rs 29,100 depending on their year of study, will now get Rs 35,000 in the first year, Rs 37,000 in the second and Rs 40,000 in the third year (40%-48%).

Diploma students will receive in the range of Rs 35,000-Rs 37,500 compared to Rs 25,000-Rs 26,000 earlier.

Students in higher speciality courses, including six- year MCh neurosurgery, will receive between Rs 40,000 and Rs 45,000 against Rs 30,000 earlier.

In addition, undergraduates will receive Rs 600 annually and the postgraduate non-service PG and diploma students and super speciality students will receive Rs 1,000.

Most students said they were happy that the government considered their demands but pointed out that there was still a huge variation in pays received by students in other states.

Central government students get Rs 90,559, and tuition fee in several central government colleges are one tenth of that in state colleges. While Kerala pays up to Rs 45,000, other states pay between Rs 48,000 and Rs 60,000, according to them.